Alt News's Mohd Zubair sent to 14-day judicial custody by Hathras court in UP

The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe six cases lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar and Hathras.

Co-founder of Alt News Mohammed Zubair was on Thursday sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Hathras court. Zubair was presented in the court in a case registered against him under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, etc.), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class), 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of Indian Penal Code and section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act.

Tight security arrangements in Court premises in Hathras on Thursday.

The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Hathras had recently issued B warrant against the fact-checker.

The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by IG Dr Preetinder Singh, to probe six cases lodged against Zubair in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar and Hathras.

A Delhi court will hear today a bail plea moved by Zubair in a case related to an “objectionable tweet” he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity. On Tuesday, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala adjourned the hearing after the prosecution sought time for a detailed argument in the matter.

Earlier, the Supreme Court extended the interim bail of Zubair till further orders in a case lodged against him in the Sitapur district for allegedly outraging religious sentiments. The FIR was lodged on June 1 on a complaint filed by Hindu Sher Sena district president Bhagwan Sharan for a tweet by Zubair in which he called three Hindu seers -- Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop – "hate-mongers".